The Ekones chairs are amazing as well. I wanted to get one for my father who is a bit older. He is resistant to change but I am still working on it. I sat in the couch at the showroom in NY. It is so tempting. For me we listen to a stereo and as audiophiles use our ears to judge. We should be using our backs and buts to judge the seats that we spend so much time using. Congratulations.

Also, I do agree that the looks don't match the comfort (or the price).

dgad August 12, 2010 00:47

Mike,

Your description of the Olympus sounds like my feeling of the Titan i / Schroder SQ combination. I want to try my Allaerts on it as it should sound amazing. But the setup took too much time and it too perfect and I don't want to mess with it. Ever since I sold my Colibri XGW & Phantom I w. original Raven I could not get my new Colibri to sound as good as the old. Exact same experience and I can't get the highs tamed at all. With the XGW I had beautiful tamed highs and glorious bass and detail. I just thought an XGP would be a bit better. But the Phantom II / XGP is not a happy match.

dgad January 08, 2010 02:39

Mike,

No RMAF this year. Got a baby on the way. Due any day. My big thing is PC audio on the horizon. Finishing it soon. Tried the HRX samplers from RR. Something special. I can record & playback at 24/192 and record vinyl bypassing a phono stage. Need to get it going but for that I will need to manufacture custom phono cables to go straight to the ADC.

Did you give up on the Schroder? The Allaerts is something special. Easiest description is all the good of a Koetsu with none of the drawbacks. As you get higher up the line you do lose some of the warmth so that is where I stopped. A touch of warmth with a slight loss in detail. And for that I have the Colibri. Overall my favorite cartridge.

dgad September 30, 2009 02:42

Hearing good things about the Ortofon. Would love to hear how you like it on a different combination. Currently I am loving my Allaerts MC1B mk2.

dgad September 29, 2009 04:45

I use the Wally Universal for setup. I love it. Anyhow, once you are following the arc you are following the arc and all is OK. At that point pivot to spindle doesn't matter as you have the correct arc. You can have any arc as long as the arc is correct. That is what is critical. Hence the SME adjustable pivot to spindle is still a matter of following the arc 100%. Setting up a tonearm in a sloted headshell varies the effective length anyhow. The idea is to get the correct arc. This makes the most sense. In the Phantom jig, getting it set perfectly w. overhang and pivot to spindle distance is a way to get it to follow the correct arc. But even the Phantom benefit from the Wally (same thing as the Mint).

I am waiting a little & might send the Colibri back in for more adjustment. Mind you it still sounds great but not as great as the XGW.

Tuboo, how was your Schroder at coping w. the energy from the Colibri. Mine w. the XGW just was not happy. Much better in the Phantom. But I didn't experiment much w. couterweights. Now I have the Titan i in the SQ and have 4 counterweights. Basically when you check for resonant frequency almost no vibration but it is centered right at 10 which is great.

Mike,

The resonant frequency being above 10 will affect bass & give you a fuzzy high end. This is due to the arm vibrating too much. Also the resonance will go into the bass frequencies on playback. That is why it is critical. There are so many parameters.

dgad March 16, 2009 15:19

Mike,

Got my 2nd VdH Colibri. Not sure what to think. It is speced at 0.28mV but has an output of honestly 0.65mV (from listening). It is a XGP. I find it to be so stiff in the suspension that it is frustrating. The XGW is absolutely wonderful. With the longer cantilver, that is not even straight. The new XGP is with the shorter cantilever which is perfectly straight. I found the highs a bit bright & bass slugish. Measured the resonant frequency at about 15 Hz. Way too high. Confirmed what I was hearing. I then mass loaded it a lot. It helped a little. Got it to about 14 Hz. I am at a total loss. I probably will send it back for further adjustment. I could try it in a high mass arm But it does have the wonderful dynamics and detail. But the new one does not have the clarity in the bass or the smoothness of XGW. I thought I could get a little more w. the XGP. Time will tell.

dgad March 07, 2009 20:52

I have the Wally Universal that seems to be ideal for me. Some nice design points, as it is unbreakable, the thickness of an LP, and has special consideration for sighting the lines w. stylus to eliminate Parallax (did I say that right).

I hear you about business. I am dying this year, in jewelry it is just as bad. It is a take it easy year for me. MOst of my purchases were done prior to this nightmare. Good luck. I am much more focused than ever on reducing expenses to maintain profitablity rather than having a high inventory. One point is that we are not holding back w. marketing. Just being smarter about it.

dgad February 16, 2009 16:33

Not to interfere in a thread, but reviewers need amplifiers with a different set of priorities than some of us regular folk that keep our speakers for long. But one thing I love about MF is his listening taste is easy to ready and I happen to line up with him often.

Mike,

Been listening to a Colibri XGW. I now have basically had the same comparison in cartridges as you but w. a different table. Until I got the VdH to sound right it kept going back for tuning etc. But now it is so far ahead of any other cartridge in the areas where it excels. I follow your love for this cartridge. I am a little nuts, so I ordered one more XGP to see if it can be bettered. I was depating XCP but decided to stay away from copper as I had bad luck w. my Condor XCM. The one thing that I do miss sometimes is the Koetsu type warmth. But then you miss the dynamics of the Colibri. Thanks for inspiring me to try one more time.

dgad February 11, 2009 19:11

Mike,

Got a few questions for you. Did you try your XPP on the SQ? I am getting a XGW shortly. Based on some tests by one of my friends the arm of chioce so far is the SQ but time will tell. If the XPP is too light, order the Brass mounting base. I should know in 10 days about how good the combination is.

2nd, what is SWIMBO? Got me on that.,

You are really taking it up a level. The comparisons I am sure take time. How do you like your SQ?

dgad October 05, 2008 03:26